Manifesto for a critical approach to the user interface

Previous notes

The interface is a very broad concept that goes beyond the limits of the physical and the virtual. To narrow the intended scope of this manifesto, the nature of the interface we are talking about, refers to the [graphical] user-interface in the digital context.

The Manifesto is written in a reseach contex lided by PIPES team, Hangar Barcelona
The Manifesto is contextualized a research team PIPES Hangar Barcelona.

Topics

1. The interface is a device designed and used to facilitate the relationship between systems.

2. (To) interface is a verb (I interface, you interface ...). The interface occurs, is action.

3. The interface exists in the crease between space and time; it is a device and simultaneously a situation. It is rendered (updated under thoughtful conditions) and emergent (joining into something new).

4. The interface collects traces: traces and remains of all agents/agencies which converge in it.

6. An interface is designed within a cultural context and in turn designs cultural contexts.

7. The interface responds and embodies the economic logic of the system in which you enroll. It is a political device.

8. The ideology of the interface is always embedded in the interface itself, but it is not always visible.

9. Can we make the invisible visible? The more present interfaces are in our lives, the less we perceive them.

10. The interface uses metaphors that create illusions: I am free, I can go back, I have unlimited memory, I am anonymous, I am popular, I am creative, it's free, it's neutral, it is simple, it is universal. Beware of illusions!

11. The standard calls for a universal subject and generates processes of homogenization, but reduces the complexity and diversity . What is not standard?

12. Users are entitled to know what the interface hides. Access to knowledge is a fundamental right.

13. In the design of the interface, not only skills but also emotions and affections are deployed. How are emotions produced and circulated in interfaces?

14. The user uses the interface perform agency, they coproduce each other and therefore they have the ability to define, redefine and contradict themselve by action or omission.

Try to talk with a plant. You need something to help to translate. But the plant will keep on growing without your voice, Do not pay attention to those who stand for speaking to the plants. (1-cP)

Use a stand up desk and stretch out while using your computer. Feel your body.

'View source' of a webpage, and try to read even though you don't understand all of it. Underline words you can understand. (1+cA)

Call your friends for a detox-party. Locate the place where a favourite software is stored on your computer. Explore the different files, folders, file-types and try to understand what they do. Back-up the folder. Where are the icons stored and can you change them? What files can you op en and what do you see? Are there configuration files you can identify? Try to make modifications using a text editor, and see what happens when you make changes. Take pictures/screenshots of your discoveries. (1>+cA)

Refuse to be archived. Archive is the register of everything, even those things that are not archivable. (1+cR)

Avoid synchronizing your devices ... or you will be hunted and tracked down. (1+cH)

Install: Track-me-not, Ghostery or other plugins that block or hack tracking efforts. (1+cH)

Use the Google 'search by image' function with a picture of yourself. Look at those who resemble you. Why the hack don't they look like you? (1+cP)

Ask someone you trust to collect all traces stored on his/her computer and do the same. Exchange files and describe a character that fits this information. Do the same with someone you don't know (1>+cP)

Use a notebook to write down your bookmarks, your contacts, your searches. (1+cA)

Keep sending the same portrait if someone asks for it. You will never look older and, at some point, nobody will recognize you in real life. (1+cR)

Block the GPS of your phone. If you need to find a place, ask someone. Things will happen. (1-cH)

Use your first Nokia 3210 phone again (try not to get too nostalgic about it). (1+cH)

Do not use any free (as in free beer) service for a while. Who does that service really serve? (c+)(H)(1)

Try to read the Terms and Conditions before accepting them. Do it regularly. Find company, it will be boring. (c+)(1>)(A)

Never click on "like" buttons (R)(-c)(1)

Ask regularly, by email, post, phone call or graffiti for an increase of "unlike" buttons (W)(1>)(-c)

Look at the logo on the top left, from time to time, every day. (c+)(A)(H)(1)

Be conscious of the ads that appear in your screen. Then think about the pages you have visited last, or what did you write in your email. Then you'll probably want to install https://adblockplus.org/ (c+)(H)(1)

Diversify your use of interface-types and support different ways of thinking and doing.(c+)(1>)(A)

Try to search all those things and travels you will never buy or make, and please lie on your gender and age: it will confuse the bots and the adds will be more fun. (R)(c+)(1>)

Use your search box to make your statements instead of searching something, they will be suggested to other users. i.e. "I am fed up of google tracking me". (R)(c+)(1>)

Ask for a free day at work for reinstalling all the software at your computer, but instead go to the dentist. (P)(1)(-c)

Ask for a free day at work for mourning the decease of a dear friend, and re-install all the software on your computer. (P)(1)(+c)

Make a verkami for your own tubal ligation surgery (P)(R)(1>)(+c)

Join Amazon Mechanical Turk for 24 hours non-stop. How much have you earned? (A) (+c)(1)

Remember that Ronald Reagan once said, when he visited Nintendo Headquarters: "We'll have soldiers in every bedroom" (A)

Make a mark on your desktop whenever the interface makes you feel bad R/P/A/H/+-C.

When you have made more than 100 marks, file a complaint 1/+C/A.

See with your colleagues if their complaints were heard. If not, use the time it would take to file another complaint, to learn how to install and modify software that you can change. Don't do this on your own.+C/A 1>H

Did you know that the first photographic camera, the first washing machine, the first transistor radio, the first Mac and the first windows had the same slogan? "YOU JUST CLICK, WE DO THE REST". A

Do not forget that every new experience takes time and energy to process. A

Imagine your desktop is a kitchen, a garden, a hospital, a computer. Now, imagine it using no metaphor P/A.

Spy on your partner's bookmarks history and talk to him/her about it. 1>A

Knowledge is not the archive. The archive is a way to control knowledge. A

!!Open source!! H/W

Go and play to some online multiplayer shooting game. Try to calm them down first. And later, try to explain how everything is programmed. Use the less important weapon so you won't be seen as a menace. Chat to other players about art or cooking. You can get lots of surprises. People are great, even online, they're still people: https://soymenos.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/infiltrados-en-el-espacio-digital/ W/1>

Start a campaign for some "maybe" buttons. Otherwise in a few generations we will not know how to hesitate. W / P

Choose an application you use often, and try to crash it. R

Install another operating system. It is possible. R/W +C

Create your stupid operating system and show it to your friends. R/W +C

Practice saying: I don't have a Google account. Repeat as many times as necessary. Then: delete your account.

Practice saying: I use Linux. Repeat as many times as necessary. Then: install

Practice saying: I don't use Facebook. Repeat as many times as necessary. Then: delete your account.

Focus: Interface

If you use Twitter, try to think how often do you try to fit your thoughts in 140 characters A

My mum is a fashion that will pass away (the computer). P

If you use Google Keep, try to voice-record something. If you don't speak for two seconds it will switch off. Can you think and talk faster? There's no alternative, if you need more time, try an other app. A

Try to do the same that your Graphical User Interface does: say "I'm not available" to someone at least 10 times every week A / R

Miscellaneuos

Install another operating system. It is possible. (14)

Create your stupid operating system and show it to your friends. (14)

Make a screenshot of the application you are currently using, and print it. Pin it to your bedroom wall. (4)

Choose an application you use often, and try to crash it. (14)

Write a manifesto about something

Practice saying: I don't have a Google account. Repeat as many times as necessary. Then: delete your account. (14)

Practice saying: I use Linux. Repeat as many times as necessary. Then: install (14)

Practice saying: I don't use Facebook. Repeat as many times as necessary. Then: delete your account. (14)

Nothing, try to do nothing.

If you were an interface, which kind of interface will you be? (10)

The next presentation you make in public, use an interface that you have used at most for a week. Expect to fail, and deal with it in public.(15)

Everytime you receive a pop-up, read it aloud S H O U T I N G ! (7)

Get out of Gmail. Get together, bring food and music because it will take time, and will have emotional impact. Research how you can avoid not to export e-mails one by one. Think together about what you can do with your YouTube videos and account, files on Google Drive and Google Docs and Google Calendar. R (15)(14)

Use OpenStreetMap every time you would have used Google Maps

If a device breaks, take a break before repairing or replacing. You will be surprised.